Finger Swap
by StaindRedGlass
Summary: STORY 10: After a missing person being found, a 7 year old cold case is reopened. The man's memory is the only link to possibly finding a missing naval officer, his friend, who vanished with him. But the man can't remember the last 7 years.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:** At the end of the last story, I mentioned that I would be having surgery soon. Well, it hasn't happened yet, but at least I know it'll be in early January. With knowing I would be having surgery soon, I was going to take a little break from writing. But since, for some reason, I wrote chapter 1 already, I might as well post it LoL.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's the 10th story in my series. If you haven't read the other stories, then I advise you to not proceed until you do. This is a series. It runs in sequence. To understand certain things (especially where Jamie came from), it's best to just start at the beginning. This series is kind of like my very own NCIS season 4. As of this point, the series consists of: story 1 A Link to the Past (comes in 3 parts)… story 2 Wrong Place, Wrong Time… story 3 Second Job… story 4 Daughters… story 5 A Personal Vendetta… story 6 Bless the Children… story 7 Eyes of the Condemned… story 8 Disturbing Affection… story 9 No Man Left Behind (story that introduces Kid)… story 10 Finger Swap (current story). Hope you enjoy it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Monday**

**Chapter 1**

Sometime in the very early morning of Monday, Gibbs is in the basement working on the boat. Kid is up in Jamie's room trying to sleep. He just lies there looking up at the ceiling. After a while, he finally gets up and walks downstairs. He notices the basement light is on so he decides to check it out. Kid steps into the doorway to the basement and sees Gibbs is there working on the boat. Kid walks down the stairs and sits on the bottom step and just watches. Gibbs turns to grab something and finally notices Kid is there watching him.

"Having trouble sleeping?" Gibbs asked.

Kid nods.

"Let me guess, you miss Tony?"

Kid nods with a sad facial expression upon his face.

"Tony and Jamie will be back from their trip in a couple hours. So you won't have to wait much longer." Gibbs paused after seeing Kid's facial expression. "You're wondering why you couldn't go with them?"

Kid nods.

"When we were in Nigeria, I contacted a friend to buy something for me. At the time, I didn't know you would be coming home with Tony." Gibbs said. "The day after the wedding, I tried to make it so that you could go as well. But it just didn't work."

Kid cracks a smile and shrugs his shoulders. There's a moment of silence. Kid then points to the unfinished boat.

"This is a boat."

Gibbs notices Kid's confused facial expression.

"I know it doesn't look like a boat. It's not done. Jamie and I are building this boat together." Gibbs stated. "You wanna help?"

Kid shakes his head. Gibbs puts down the sanding block he has. He walks over to Kid and sits next to him. Gibbs then faces Kid. The two of them are just looking at each other.

"I know you don't know how to write. But you know the letters of the alphabet."

Kid nods in agreement.

"How would you like to surprise Tony with being able to sign your name, in sign language?"

Kid gets excited as he nods his head.

"After I teach you how to sign the alphabet, you don't have to sign your name for me. I'm sure you're gonna want Tony to be the first person you sign your name for."

Kid nods. Gibbs just smiles. Then with his hands, Gibbs begins showing Kid how to sign the alphabet. Kid watches and listens carefully as Gibbs signs each letter and says what letter he's signing. Kid copies Gibbs' hand positions in regards to signing each letter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, on Old Ox Road, behind Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia, a man is walking south, in the direction of route 50. The man seems to be lost walking down the road in the darkness. As the man is walking in the middle of the road, he doesn't even hear the car honking behind him. After honking the horn for two minutes and getting no response from the man in the middle of the road, the driver finally pulls his car to the side of the road. He then gets out of the car.

"What the hell are you doing in the middle of the road?!" The driver shouted.

The man continues walking as if he didn't even hear the driver speak. The driver leans into his car and pulls out a flashlight and a crowbar. He turns the flashlight on and points it at the man walking in the middle of the road. The man just continues walking. The driver cautiously walks over to the man. As the driver approaches the man, he's able to notice the man is quite dirty.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" The driver yelled as he steps in front of the man. He then looks at the man and falls silent as his jaw drops.

The man stops walking. He's dirty. His clothes are torn. It looks like he hasn't shaven his face in a very long time. The man has bloodshot eyes and appears to be completely out of it as if he has no idea where he is. He just stands there. The driver begins flashing the light passed the man's eyes. The man is completely unresponsive to the person standing in front of him.

The man drops something from his hand. He then kneels down in order to find what he dropped. The driver points the flashlight downward. Five seconds before the man snatches what he dropped, the driver was able to see that the man dropped dog tags. While kneeling and the light flashing on his hands, the man turns his hands so that the palms of the hands are facing him. He just stares at his hands, particularly the fingers. The man glances at the dog tags in his right hand then he closes his eyes as a tear rolls down his cheek.

"Are you alright mister?" The driver asked.

The man begins trembling. Then the man opens his eyes and looks up at the driver.

"Help me." The man said softly.

The driver helps the man to stand. He then brings the man over to his car and sits him down in the backseat. The man sits there rocking back and forth while keeping a firm grip on the dog tags. Before taking his cell-phone out to call 911, the light from the inside of the car allows the driver to see the man's body through his torn clothing. The driver notices a significant amount of visible scarring, both old and recent. The driver then begins to dial 911 in order to get this man some help.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A couple hours later, Ziva arrives to work at the NCIS building. She parks her car, grabs her stuff, then she walks into the building. Ziva finally steps off the elevator on her floor, and immediately walks to her desk and sits down. A couple minutes later, McGee gets off the elevator and makes his way to his desk using a crutch due to his hurt leg a week and half ago in Nigeria. As McGee passes by Ziva's desk, she looks up in confusion as she watches McGee hobbling along.

"McGee, you do understand the concept of sick leave... Don't you?"

"Yes."

"Then why are you here?"

McGee finally reaches his desk and sits down. He leans the crutch against the partition behind him.

"My leg may have been injured badly, but with the pain medication, I can work efficiently."

"And you think Gibbs will agree?"

"Not really." McGee said. "But when Abby was shot she came back early."

"That's different McGee. Abby is… Well… Abby."

"I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, haven't you noticed Gibbs has become a little soft ever since Jamie came into the picture?"

"Actually… I have noticed that." Ziva agreed. "But if the daughter you thought you lost a long time ago came back, your reaction would probably be the same."

"I still can't believe Gibbs sent them to Puerto Rico as a wedding present."

"He knows Tony always loved Puerto Rico."

"I wonder where Gibbs would send me if I ever married Jamie."

"You're joking right?"

"I don't think I've ever told Gibbs my favorite place."

"Your favorite place wouldn't matter McGee."

"So what you're saying is… Gibbs would never accept me as a son-in-law?"

"What I'm saying is this… You wouldn't be able to handle Jamie. The truth of the matter is you wouldn't last one day being with Jamie." Ziva quickly puts her head down and begins working as she realizes who is walking toward the area, passed the partition behind McGee's work space.

"What are you saying? You don't think I can satisfy Jamie? I know I can satisfy her." McGee stated.

"Is that so McGee?" Gibbs asked.

McGee's eyes widen, his jaw drops and he cramps his face as Gibbs walks over to his own desk in order to put his coffee down. He then turns to glare at McGee.

"I… I..." McGee begins to stumble with trying to find an explanation. "About what I said… I didn't mean anything by it…" McGee keeps trying to defend himself. "I'm taking pain medication and it may have impaired my thinking…"

"McGee…" Gibbs tries to get his attention as he approaches McGee's desk.

"Yes Boss?"

"You think I've gone a little soft since my daughter came back?"

"Umm… Well… Not really… It's not noticeable."

"Obviously you must think it's noticeable since you said it."

"I… Umm…" McGee looks toward Ziva. "Help me out here?"

Gibbs turns his head and glares at Ziva.

"You're on your own. Maybe next time you'll reconsider coming back early." Ziva then puts her head down and continues working.

Gibbs turns back to glare at McGee.

"You're gonna hurt me, aren't you?"

"Now what makes you think that McGee?"

"Your Sig isn't loaded, is it?"

"It could be. Why do you ask?"

"Well… Umm… I'd be a lot less nervous if your hand wasn't ready to pull it out." McGee paused as Gibbs just glares at him. "Ok… I know it was wrong of me to say what I said, so I know I deserve a major head slap."

There's a moment of silence as Gibbs just glares at McGee and McGee tries to avoid looking Gibbs in the eyes.

"Tony and Jamie will be here soon, so I'm going down to Abby's to pick-up Kid." Gibbs stated.

Gibbs leaves the area. McGee takes a deep breath.

"That went better then I thought it would." McGee said.

"You're a dead man McGee." Ziva stated. "You just don't know it yet."

McGee's head falls onto his desk.

"He didn't even mention the fact that you're not supposed to be here." Ziva said.

"I know." McGee agreed. "That's a bad thing."

Ziva stands up and walks over to McGee. Once she's close enough, she pats him on the shoulder.

"It was nice knowing you McGee." Ziva stated.

After a minute, Tony and Jamie step off the elevator. With holding each other's hand, they walk over to McGee's desk where both McGee and Ziva are.

"Good morning!" Tony exclaimed.

"Hey." Jamie also greets them.

"How was your trip?" Ziva asked as Jamie gives her a hug.

"It was amazing. Puerto Rico is a beautiful place." Jamie stated.

Ziva and Jamie walk away in order to chat for a bit. Tony and McGee are left to talk to each other. Tony places his hand on McGee's left shoulder.

"You're looking better McGee." Tony said. "But aren't you supposed to be on sick leave?"

"It was getting rather boring playing video games the whole time. And I felt I can work efficiently, so might as well come back."

"Well… It's good to see you're getting better." Tony said. "How's your leg feeling?"

"I'm taking pain medication which helps."

After a couple more minutes, Gibbs and Kid walk into the vicinity. As they're approaching, Tony's attention is drawn toward him. His view of Kid is blocked by the partition. As soon as Kid steps out into view, he sees Tony and becomes excited. Tony's face lights up as Kid runs over to him. Kid jumps into Tony's arms in order to hug him. Tony lifts him up and holds Kid in his arms. Kid places his head on Tony's shoulder while his arms are around Tony's neck.

"I missed you too buddy." Tony said.

Gibbs' phone begins to ring so he walks over to his desk to pick it up. Jamie finally walks over to where Tony and Kid are, near McGee's desk. Jamie is now standing at Tony's left side, the side where Kid is resting his head on Tony's shoulder. Jamie brings her right hand up toward Kid and gently strokes the back of his head. Kid smiles then places his hand on Jamie's right arm.

After a couple more seconds, Kid leans back in Tony's arms and begins making hands movements. Tony is confused as he knows Kid is signing something, but doesn't know sign language.

"I'm sorry buddy… I don't know what you're trying to say." Tony said. "I'm guessing Gibbs taught you a little sign language, right?"

Kid nods and keeps making hand movements.

"I don't know sign language." Tony stated. "But I'm also gonna learn so the two of us can communicate better, ok?"

Kid nods and smiles. He then looks to Jamie and begins making the same hand movements. Tony turns his head to look at Jamie.

"What's he saying?" Tony asked.

"He's not signing any particular word. He's signing letters." Jamie stated. "I think he's trying to sign his real name for you."

Kid nods.

"Well… What's his name?" Tony asked quickly because he really wants to know.

"Can you start at the very first letter?" Jamie asked as she looks at Kid.

Kid then starts signing the letters of his real name, from the beginning. After the last letter, he stops making hand movements. Jamie smiles as she now knows Kid's name.

"What's his name?" Tony asked again.

"His name is the Nigerian name that means; God's gift." Jamie stated. "His real name is Chioke."

Chioke smiles as he looks back toward Tony. Tony can't help his happiness at knowing his adopted son's real name.

"Chioke…" Tony's so happy he can hardly think of what else to say. "It's good to finally know your name buddy." He smiles.

Chioke leans forward and puts his arms back around Tony's neck. Jamie walks to the side in order to greet McGee. Gibbs finally puts the phone down.

"McGee…" Gibbs tries to get his attention.

"Yes Boss?"

"A photo and fingerprints are being emailed to me… Get them up on the plasma"

"On it Boss."

"What do we got Boss?" Tony asked.

The photo and fingerprints now appear on the plasma. Gibbs then adds another photo and set of fingerprints to the screen. Gibbs and everybody else walk to the plasma, except for McGee who just rolls his chair over.

"Seven years ago Lieutenant Edward Collins…" Gibbs points to the photo on the left of the screen. "And his friend Brian Phillips…" Gibbs now points to the photo on the right side of the screen. "Vanished without a trace… The case went cold until now."

"Their bodies have been found?" Ziva asked.

"Earlier this morning a man was found. He's in the hospital. His fingerprints were taken…"

"Which one of them was found?" Tony asked.

"Can I finish?" Gibbs asked as he quickly glares at Tony. "As I was saying… The man that was found, his photo matches that of the friend, Brian Phillips. The only problem is… The fingerprints match those of Lieutenant Edward Collins."

"Huh... Interesting." Tony said.

"Yeah, I thought so too."

"Do you mean to say the skin of their fingers was swapped?" Jamie asked.

"It wasn't just the skin." Gibbs stated.

"You mean the entire fingers were swapped?" Jamie asked.

"Yes… Brian Phillips is now the owner of the fingers that used to belong to Lieutenant Edward Collins. The fingers are attached to be his own." Gibbs stated. "But that's not our big problem." He added. "Our big problem is the fact that Brian Phillips doesn't remember what happened to him in the last seven years. So it's our job to find out and to locate Lieutenant Edward Collins." He then hands a piece of paper, with a location, to Ziva. "You and Tony go to where Brian Phillips was found."

Ziva walks to her desk to grab her gear. Tony sets Chioke on the floor. Chioke places his hand into Jamie's hand while Tony goes to his desk to grab his gear. Tony walks back over to them. Tony kisses Jamie then kneels down to say bye to Chioke.

"I'll see you later Chioke." Tony smiled.

Chioke nods. Tony then stands up in order to leave. As Ziva and Tony are walking away, Tony looks back. Both Jamie and Chioke are smiling back at him. Tony now walks behind the partition on the way toward the elevator. He's now out of Chioke's view because he's too short to see over the partition. Chioke pulls his hand out of Jamie's hand and runs over to the elevator in order to hug Tony one more time before he leaves. Jamie begins walking in the direction of the elevator.

Gibbs, who went back to his desk, now grabs his car keys. He turns to see McGee is getting ready to leave. He walks over to McGee's desk.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gibbs asked.

"Umm… Since you didn't give me any assignment, I'm figuring you want me to leave." McGee said.

"Cuz of your sick leave?"

"Uh… Yeah."

"I never gave you permission to leave." Gibbs said in a strong voice. "Pull up the case file. Find out anything and everything you can about those two. I want full background checks. I wanna know everything about both of them, from birth to the day they disappeared. I want everything on my desk by the time I get back." He now glares at McGee. "You wanted to come back early, so now you gotta deal with it. Besides… With what you said… I'm not thru with you yet."

Gibbs walks away as McGee takes a deep breath, sighs and wonders what Gibbs is going do to him in regards to what he said. Gibbs walks to over to the windows where Jamie and Chioke are standing.

"How was your trip?" Gibbs asked.

"It was fun. Puerto Rico is a beautiful place." Jamie stated. "Thank you."

"I'm glad you two had fun." Gibbs said. "I…"

"Need to go…. I know."

"Love you." Gibbs leans forward and kisses Jamie on the forehead.

"Love you too Dad."

Gibbs leans back and looks down at Chioke. Gibbs now kneels down.

"Me, Jamie and Abby all know sign language. We'll help you learn more. And we'll also teach Tony." Gibbs stated. "In time, you and Tony will be able to communicate with each other. You have my word."

Chioke smiles as he gives Gibbs a quick hug. After a couple seconds, Chioke steps back and places his hand into Jamie's hand. Gibbs stands up and walks to the elevator.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

While Tony and Ziva are searching up and down Old Ox Road, behind Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia where Brian Phillips was found, Gibbs is at the hospital to hopefully speak with Brian. As Gibbs approaches the room, Doctor Welsh is just outside writing a few things down into his file.

"Are you Doctor Welsh?" Gibbs asked.

"You must be Agent Gibbs." Doctor Welsh shakes his hand.

"Actually… It's Special Agent Gibbs."

"Maybe I should pull out my, actually, as well."

"That's not necessary Doctor. Agent Gibbs is fine."

"Well, Agent Gibbs, I just got finished performing finger tests with Brian Phillips…" Doctor Welsh paused, looks down and takes a deep breath.

"What is it Doc?"

"I've never seen anything quite like this before. I mean… If a person's finger gets severed due to some type of accident, the finger can be surgically re-attached. But that's definitely not the case here." Doctor Welsh said. "With Brian Phillips, his fingers were surgically removed and replaced with his friend's fingers. It doesn't appear to be voluntary either. At the time being, there's no logical explanation of why Brian has your Lieutenant's fingers as being his own."

"So he doesn't remember anything?"

"He doesn't even remember the man who found him earlier this morning. Whatever happened to Brian Phillips in the last seven years, it was definitely a traumatic experience cuz the last thing he can remember is being in the car with his friend, Lieutenant Edward Collins, when they went out seven years ago. Everything after that… It's like it never existed in his mind."

"You mean to tell me… The only link I have to finding my missing Lieutenant, is a person who might not ever remember anything about what happened?"

"It's a possibility. In time, there's a chance things may start coming back to him, but in extreme cases, the person may never remember."

"Please tell me this doesn't fit into the extreme case category."

"That's difficult to say without knowing anything about what happened to him in the last seven years." Doctor Welsh stated.

"Is there anything you can tell me that might help me in finding Lieutenant Edward Collins?"

"In regards to who could have possibly swapped these people's fingers, I can definitely narrow down your search a bit."

"Narrow it away."

"First off, with the finger tests I performed… The fingers work with 90 efficiency. There were a few tests he had a bit of trouble with. But at being able to efficiently work the fingers at a 90 functionality with being surgically replaced, is very good." Doctor Welsh said. "To perform this type of surgical procedure, I'd say the people would need to be highly skilled in four types of surgery."

"You said people… Is it possible one person could've done this alone, by him or herself?"

"It would be quite difficult to do this procedure alone. I mean, most doctors specialize in one or two fields of surgical procedure. That's why I said, people. But I guess I shouldn't completely rule out being able to perform this type of surgery, alone."

"For the time being, let's just say one person did this." Gibbs stated. "Humor me."

"Well, if one person did this, that person would have to be highly skilled in four types of surgery to have the workable efficiency/functionality that I see here." Doctor Welsh stated. "The person would be highly skilled in: Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, Orthopedic surgery, Vascular surgery, and Neurosurgery."

"Do you know anybody who is?"

"No… But I can give you a list of quite a few surgeons who have combinations of those four fields. And I'll also ask around if anyone knows a doctor who is skilled in those four fields as well."

Doctor Welsh begins to walk away as Gibbs looks in the room. The doctor turns in order to say something.

"Agent Gibbs…" Doctor Welsh tries to get his attention.

"Yes?"

"I forgot to tell you… I know you wanna find your Lieutenant as soon as possible, so I had Brian's personal affects, including the dog tags, sent to your Forensics lab, immediately."

"Thanks Doc."

"I'll go make-up the list for you now."

Doctor Welsh finally walks away as Gibbs steps into the room where Brian Phillips is lying on the hospital bed. Brian Phillips looks at Gibbs as he walks into the room.

"You were talking about me, weren't you?" Brian asked. "It seems the whole hospital wants to see the freak with his friend's fingers."

"I'm not here to see the fingers that aren't yours. But I am here because of those fingers." Gibbs stated.

"What do you mean? Who are you?"

"I'm Special Agent Gibbs. I'm with NCIS." Gibbs flashes his badge. "And I'm here cuz those fingers belong to…"

"Lieutenant Edward Collins… I know who the fingers belong to."

"Since you know who the fingers belong to, then why don't you tell me how they got on your hands?"

"I don't know! All I know is that me and my friend Edward went for a drive one night, then the next thing, I'm here in the hospital with his fingers on my hands! They say I was missing for seven years. Between the drive and now, it seems like a couple hours or so. I lost seven years! And I have no idea what happened in that time! I just don't know."

"You were missing for seven years. This is a photo of your friend…" Gibbs shows Brian a photograph of his friend. "After seven years, you're still alive. So that leads me to believe that Lieutenant Edward Collins may also still be alive. But my problem is this… You may be the only one who knows where I can find him. So you sure as hell need to do better then, I don't know." Gibbs said. "If your friend is still alive, don't you wanna help him?"

"Of course I do, but…" Brian takes the photograph of his friend and just looks at it. "I wish I could help." A tear falls from his eye. "But I just can't remember anything about what happened."

"What about the man who found you?"

"I can't remember him."

"You know I already spoke with your doctor. But before I came up here, I spoke with the man who found you. He said you were unresponsive. You dropped your friend's dog tags and quickly went to pick it up off the ground. While kneeling, you were looking at your hands. You obviously felt something. You felt something was wrong. You knew something is wrong. A tear rolled down your cheek, you looked at the man and asked for help…"

"Like I said… I don't remember that."

"You knew you needed help! How can you know you need help and just forget about it?"

"I don't need help!"

"Then why ask for it?!"

"I…"

"You asked for help, not for you, but for your friend… Am I correct?"

"I guess so…" Brian slightly struggles to say because he's unsure.

"Can you honestly lie there and tell me you want to help your friend, when you're not trying hard enough to remember? Cuz you KNOW you're friend needs help, but you can't… Or is it… You just don't want to remember cuz you don't wanna help your friend?"

"He's my best friend! Of course I wanna help him!"

"You must know something if you asked for help… So stop fucking around and help me find your friend!"

Doctor Welsh enters the room.

"Agent Gibbs!" Doctor Welsh exclaimed to get his attention. "If I knew you gonna harass my patient like this, then I wouldn't have allowed you to be in here unsupervised."

"I was just leaving." Gibbs said.

"Here's your photo back." Brian extends his hand to give Gibbs the photo.

"Keep it." Gibbs said. "You need something to remind you of the person depending on your memory."

Gibbs walks to the door where Doctor Welsh is standing. Doctor Welsh extends his hand to give Gibbs the list of surgeons and what their specialty is. Gibbs then walks out in order to leave the hospital.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After leaving the hospital, Gibbs goes to get coffee. He then heads back to the NCIS building. As he enters the building, he sees Tony and his dad on the ground floor. Gibbs begins walking toward the elevator.

"What do you want me to say? I told you I'm sorry." Mr. DiNozzo said.

"Sorry doesn't cut it!" Tony exclaimed. "I told you about my wedding. I told you the date and time. But you didn't even bother showing up!"

"You know I had an important Civil War meeting that night."

"Here we go again… The Civil War is more important then me. Thanks a lot."

"You should've…"

"I should've what? Worked my wedding around your busy Civil War schedule?"

Gibbs finally walks passed the two of them and heads to the elevator. Tony notices Gibbs as he walks passed them.

"Our relationship as been crap for a long time. I've tried to make it better. But you don't. You don't try." Tony stated. "Do I mean anything to you?"

"Of course you do. You're my son." Mr. DiNozzo said.

"You have a great way of showing it. You haven't even bothered trying to meet Jamie. When we had the time, you always made-up some stupid excuse so you don't have to meet her." Tony said. "My coworkers… My boss… People I'm not related to were all there. But own my father was nowhere to be seen." Tony paused for a couple seconds. "I don't even know why I'm so upset about this. My coworkers and boss being at my wedding meant more to me then if you were there anyway."

The argument between Tony and his father continues. Gibbs steps off the elevator then he walks toward the work area where Ziva and McGee at sitting at their desks. As Gibbs passes Ziva's desk, he drops two pieces of papers onto her desk. Gibbs continues walking.

"Find out everything you can on all of those surgeons. Check alibis for the night of the disappearance. I also wanna know if any of them have motive for abducting or wanting to hurt either Lieutenant Edward Collins or Brian Phillips." Gibbs stated as he approaches his own desk. "Also…" Gibbs begins to say.

"I'm in the middle of working on something." Ziva said. "I'll do it in five minutes."

Gibbs suddenly stops. He places his coffee on his desk. He then turns to face Ziva.

"What did you just say?" Gibbs asked.

"I'll do it in five minutes." Ziva replied.

"What could possibly be more important?" Gibbs asked as he walks over to Ziva's desk.

Ziva carefully places a photograph into a photo album. Gibbs sees what's she's doing. After placing the photograph into the album, Ziva looks up at Gibbs. Ziva closes the photo album and hands it to Gibbs. He opens it and smiles as he flips through the pages, viewing the pictures Ziva took the night of Tony and Jamie's wedding.

"You always did take the best pictures Ziva."

"I'm almost done putting their wedding album together."

"Start working on that list." Gibbs said as he hands the photo album to Ziva. "After you get the photo album done."

Gibbs grabs the first page of the list, leaving Ziva one page to go through. Gibbs walks over to McGee's desk. McGee is busy trying to scratch an itch under the cast on his leg. Gibbs slams the piece of paper onto McGee's desk to get his attention. McGee jumps after being startled by Gibbs' hand slamming onto his desk.

"Work on this list." Gibbs stated as he glares at McGee.

Gibbs then walks to his own desk and sits down. He notices an un-open envelope on his desk. He grabs the envelope, sees it's from the Kipper family and begins to open it. Inside, there's a folded drawing by Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Kipper's five year son. Gibbs unfolds the drawing in order to look at it. Once the drawing is unfolded, a photograph falls out onto Gibbs' desk. He grabs the photograph with his left hand and holds the drawing in his right hand. He looks at both and just smiles.

The photograph is that of Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Kipper, in the hospital after the Nigeria incident, with his two kids, his five year old son and holding his over one year old daughter for the first time. The drawing, that the five year old son drew, is a family portrait of the Kipper family. In big letters at the top of the drawing, reads as follows; 'Thanks for saving my Daddy'.

Gibbs' eyes begin to water up a bit as he tries hard to not get emotional over it. He then looks at Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Kipper's five year old son, in the photograph.

"You're welcome." Gibbs said softly to himself.

Gibbs' phone now rings so he answers it. As Gibbs is talking to someone over the phone, McGee looks over at Gibbs. He takes a couple deep breaths. McGee turns and grabs his crutch. He uses the crutch to help stand up. With the crutch, McGee hobbles over to Gibbs' desk and stands in front of it. While still on the phone, Gibbs quickly glances upward at McGee.

"I'll definitely go to the meeting with you, Emily. I promise." Gibbs said as he finishes up with the phone-call.

Gibbs puts the phone down and begins looking through the file McGee left on his desk.

"Is there some reason you're stalking my desk McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"About earlier, with what I said about Jamie…" McGee paused as Gibbs finally looks at him. "I don't know why I said what I said. I shouldn't have said what I said. I didn't mean anything by it. And I know it was wrong to even joke about…"

"Does this have a point McGee? Cuz I don't have all day."

"I know you're gonna say that apologizing is a sign of weakness, but I don't know what else to say." McGee stated. "I'm sorry, Boss."

"Apology accepted." Gibbs said.

"You're not gonna say apologizing is a sign of weakness?" McGee asked as he's surprised that's not what he heard.

"Not if it's a time when an apology is absolutely necessary."

Gibbs looks downward and continues glancing through the file. McGee begins hobbling to his desk. McGee stops and turns around to face Gibbs.

"About what I said in regards to you going a little soft since Jamie came back into your life…" McGee begins saying as Gibbs looks up at him. "That is a true statement, I'll admit. But it's not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, not that I have a daughter or anything, but if the daughter I lost for so long…"

"Spit it out McGee."

"It's just good to see you happier." McGee said. "That's all."

Gibbs just nods. Then Gibbs looks down and continues working. McGee turns around and begins hobbling to his desk.

"It's good to be happy again, McGee." Gibbs said.

McGee cracks a smile as he continues hobbling along to his desk. As McGee finally sits down, Tony walks into the area and throws his bag at the front of his desk. Ziva and McGee look up after the bag collided with the desk. Gibbs just continues looking through the file on his desk.

"That man is ridiculous!" Tony exclaimed.

Tony walks around his desk and pushes his chair away from the desk. The chair collides with the file cabinet.

"What man?" Ziva wondered.

Tony just glares at Ziva. Ziva looks toward McGee for a possible answer.

"I think the only person who can piss him off this much, is his father." McGee stated.

"Ding, ding, ding… We have a winner!" Tony exclaimed. Tony begins walking over to McGee's desk. "Tell him what he won Bob..." Tony begins to say. "Well Tony… He won an all expenses paid trip for my hand to smack…" Tony smacks McGee on the back of the head. "...him on the back of the head." He finished his sentence.

"Hey!" Gibbs exclaimed to get his attention.

Tony's attention is drawn over to Gibbs' direction.

"Be pissed off at your father on your own time, not mine!" Gibbs stated in a strong voice. He then looks down and continues flipping through the file.

"Sorry Boss." Tony said.

"And don't apologize… It's a sign of weakness."

Tony turns back to McGee. Tony places his hand on McGee's head and begins rubbing his head.

"I shouldn't hit a cripple… That was just wrong."

McGee extends his arm to grab his crutch. He then places the top of the crutch against Tony's stomach and slowly pushes him away. Gibbs stands up.

"DiNozzo…" Gibbs tries to get his attention.

"Yeah Boss?"

"With me."

Gibbs begins walking to the elevator and Tony follows. They reach the elevator but have to stand there waiting for it.

"Where are we going?" Tony asked.

"I'm going to Abby's Lab." Gibbs responded. "You can join me so you can have a little time to visit Chioke, since he missed you."

"You've gone a little soft Gibbs."

Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"Or not." Tony said as he rubs his head.

The two of them finally step onto the elevator.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Gibbs and Tony enter into the Forensics Lab where Abby, Jamie and Chioke are. Tony's eyes are immediately drawn over to Chioke, who is sleeping on the futon in front of the refrigerator. Tony just smiles as Chioke looks so peaceful sleeping there.

"Abs, what do you got for me?" Gibbs asked as he walks toward where the girls are.

"Jamie and I were teaching Kid some sign language. We also determined that he doesn't mind if he's called by his real name, or nickname. He likes both." Abby stated.

"He was trying so hard to keep his eyes open cuz he didn't wanna go to sleep. He doesn't seem to like sleeping." Jamie added.

"I meant in regards to the case." Gibbs said.

Gibbs advances toward Jamie at the same time Tony is. With his right hand, Gibbs grabs Tony's face in order to stop him. Gibbs' hand consumes Tony's face. Jamie giggles slightly. Tony's eyes look between Gibbs' fingers as he's being held back. Gibbs leans forward and kisses Jamie on the forehead. He then backs up, takes his hand off Tony's face to let him go. Tony now advances toward Jamie. He gives Jamie a quick kiss on the lips.

"Hello?! I do exist you know." Abby said.

Jamie now sticks her tongue out at Abby. Abby counters by sticking her tongue out at Jamie as well. Gibbs grabs both of their tongues.

"Don't force me to separate you two." Gibbs stated. He then lets go of their tongues and looks toward Abby. "Besides, they're married and I'm her father. We're related."

"So what you saying is… I just need to become part of the Gibbs family." Abby stated. "I hear you're available." Abby winks at Gibbs.

Jamie rolls her eyes as she can tell her father has a naughty thought running through his mind. Gibbs quickly snaps out of it.

"Anyway…" Gibbs changes the topic. "What do you got for me?"

"Unfortunately… Not much." Abby said. "From the road Brian Phillips was found on, Tony and Ziva brought back a couple candy wrappers, Dunkin Donuts napkins, a soda can and a stick with a dead squirrel on it."

Gibbs now looks at Tony for an explanation.

"Ziva shot the squirrel cuz it was stealing evidence. She thinks it may have swallowed something important." Tony stated.

"Ducky performed the autopsy to retrieve whatever your evidence thief ate." Jamie said.

"What was it?" Gibbs asked.

"Nothing that reveals the location of where Brian Phillips came from, but it is rather interesting." Abby stated.

"It was a crumpled up piece of newspaper from seven years ago. It was only the date of the newspaper and a small, upper portion of a photo under it." Jamie said.

"A lot of newspapers use the same writing style, but when under a microscope, and especially with testing the ink itself, there are significant differences. So I was able to track what newspaper this came from. And with the upper portion of a photo, not much to even know what the photo is, it helped in matching what page of the newspaper." Abby stated.

Jamie presses the enter button on the computer. Gibbs and Tony both look at the display screen on the wall.

"It's an article about Robert T. Williams, MD. A medical doctor highly skilled in four types of surgery; Plastic and Reconstructive surgery, Orthopedic surgery, Vascular surgery, and Neurosurgery." Abby proudly stated. "And on the newspaper piece, I was able to pull a fingerprint that belongs to Lieutenant Edward Collins."

"We got him." Tony said.

"No we don't." Gibbs said. "We need a hell of a lot more then this Abs."

"I mean, at least we have a good idea who…" Tony begins to say as he notices Gibbs is glaring at him. "I'll just shut up now."

"What about his personal affects?" Gibbs asked.

"The torn clothing came up with nothing. But I lifted fingerprints off the dog tags…" Abby begins to say.

"Let me guess… The fingerprints belong to Lieutenant Edward Collins." Gibbs stated.

"That they do." Abby said. "It's kinda weird when you think about it. The fingerprints I should've lifted from the dog tags should've been the fingerprints from the person who was holding it, Brian Phillips. But since his fingers aren't actually his…" Abby notices Gibbs is glaring at her. "Basically all we have is very circumstantial evidence that pretty much leaves us with nothing."

"What about the car they were last seen in?" Gibbs asked.

"It still hasn't arrived." Abby said.

"The only thing we have to rely on... Is the memory of someone who can't remember what happened." Tony stated.

"DiNozzo, find out everything you can about Doctor Robert T. Williams." Gibbs said.

Gibbs now walks away and out of the lab. The others are left wondering why Gibbs just suddenly left.

After a couple minutes, Tony, Jamie and Abby suddenly hear a loud thump as Chioke's hand hits the refrigerator. They all look over at him lying on the futon. Chioke is tossing and turning while still asleep. The expression on his face is that of pure anguish. Tony immediately runs over to him. Chioke begins to squeal, but it's only in short, little bursts of very low sounds. Tony kneels down and tries to wake him up. Jamie and Abby also run over to them.

"Chioke, wake up." Tony said as he shakes him.

Chioke's heart beats rapidly as his breathing becomes heavier. He continues the little squeals and the tossing and turning. In Chioke's mind, he hears the sound of guns firing. He then hears his mother say; 'Run Chioke! Run!'

Chioke tries to yell; 'Mommy!' but all Tony, Jamie and Abby hear is a brief squeal. His dream continues a little longer as Tony keeps trying to wake him up. In Chioke's mind, he hears the sound of one last gun-shot, then a splash of water.

Chioke finally wakes up and immediately grabs onto Tony. He wraps his arms around Tony's waist as tightly as he can. His heart continues to beat rapidly and his breathing is still heavy. With his head pressed against Tony's side, he begins crying. With forgetting he lost his voice due to a gun-shot injury, he tries calling out for his mother, but again, all Tony, Jamie and Abby hear are briefs squeals. Jamie, who is sitting at Tony's right-side, begins to gently wipe Chioke's tears away. Jamie sees the fear in his eyes. She can tell, whatever he was dreaming about, was more then just a dream, it was a nightmare.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Gibbs enters into the hospital and goes to the room where Brian Phillips is. He enters the room as Brian is eating a late-night snack. Gibbs walks over and places the newspaper article on the table.

"Does the name Robert T. Williams ring a bell?" Gibbs asked. "He's a doctor, a medical surgeon." He added. "On the road you were found on, my team found a piece of a newspaper and tracked it down. This is article is what came up. Look at it."

Brian takes the article off the table and looks at it. Gibbs analyzes Brian's facial expressions and his body language as he looks at the article. Brian finally hands the article to Gibbs.

"I don't recognize him at all. I have no idea who he is." Brian stated.

"I think you do know." Gibbs said.

"What makes you think that?"

"I analyzed your facial expressions and body language while you were looking at the article…"

"And your point is?"

"You may not remember, but the memories are definitely there."

"So what… You wanna play shrink?" Brian asked. "I already had a military shrink trying to probe my mind for two hours today. And she came up with nothing." He added. "Thanks for sending her, by the way. I thoroughly enjoyed it." He said with sarcasm.

"I'm falling really short on evidence here. I have nothing that points to any location of where you came from. The only thing I have is a small crumpled up piece of a newspaper that led to this article." Gibbs shows the article again. "I'm guessing this fell out of your pocket cuz it's dated a couple days after you went missing. And it had your fingerprints on it… Well, the fingerprints of Lieutenant Edward Collins." He said. "He gave you newspapers to read, didn't he?"

"Why does everybody have to remind me that these…" Brian holds his hands up. "…Aren't my fingers." He finished the sentence.

"I looked at your chart and the hospital record. I know how much you've eaten since you got here."

"What does my diet have to do with anything?"

"I talked to your sister…"

"My sister's here?! Where is she?!"

"She's in the waiting room. I asked her if I can speak with you in private before…"

"So what do you want Agent Gibbs?"

"Your sister told me you don't eat a lot, never did. She told me how your diet is. So when I showed her your hospital record, only the part about how much food you're asking for and eating, she was perplexed and didn't think that food list was yours." Gibbs stated. "You're obviously very hungry, which leads me to believe, wherever you've been… Your captor stopped feeding you. Your chart also says you're malnourished and dehydrated. If your captor stopped feeding you, then he also stopped feeding Lieutenant Edward Collins, your friend." He said. "If I don't find him soon, then he'll die of starvation. And your mind is the only link I have to possibly finding him." He paused for a couple seconds. "You asked me what I want of you… All I want of you is to try harder."

There's a moment of silence.

"You already left Edward's picture. Can you also leave the article and a way I can contact you?" Brian asked. "As soon as I remember something, you'll be the first to know."

Gibbs places the article back onto the table. He then takes his card out and places it on the table as well.

"Can I see my sister now Agent Gibbs?"

"I'll go get her."

"Thanks."

Gibbs walks out of the room and goes to the waiting room to let Brian's sister know that he's finished. After telling the sister that he's done, Gibbs leaves the hospital and goes home.

Gibbs finally arrives at home sometime passed mid-night. He walks inside and immediately goes upstairs to the bathroom. He opens the medicine cabinet and takes out a couple things he needs to clean his bullet and shrapnel wound he got in Nigeria. Gibbs looks in the mirror, takes a deep breath and begins to lift his shirt up. After getting the shirt off, he looks in the mirror and notices Jamie is behind him.

"Look at this!" Jamie exclaimed as she looks at the shrapnel wound.

Gibbs laughs.

"It's not funny. It looks like it's infected. Why didn't Abby clean this while I was away?" Jamie asked. She notices the expression on her father's face. "Never-mind… I really don't wanna know." She said. "Sit so I clean this."

Gibbs sits on the toilet with his legs hanging off to the right side. Jamie grabs the cloth, alcohol and everything else needed to clean and treat the wound. She kneels on the left side of the toilet, behind her father. She opens the alcohol bottle and grabs the cloth.

"If I knew your wound wouldn't get cleaned and dressed properly, then I wouldn't have gone…" Jamie begins to say.

"That trip to Puerto Rico was a wedding present." Gibbs stated.

"I know. And I love you for the thoughtful gift." Jamie said. "Your wound just looks really bad right now. I'm just hoping it's not infected or anything."

Jamie begins to gently clean her father's shrapnel wound. She then notices something.

"This looks different." Jamie said. "Did you have to get this re-stitched?"

"Yeah." Gibbs answered.

"Let me guess, rough sex?"

Gibbs just nods.

"You and Abby are ridiculous sometimes." Jamie said. She can tell there's something bugging him. "What's on your mind?"

"It's just this case. We have no evidence that shows us where Brian Phillips came from and where he's been for the last seven years. He can't remember anything. Lieutenant Edward Collins is out there somewhere." Gibbs paused for a couple seconds. "And his fate depends on the memory of a man who just can't remember."

"After the accident, it took me 11 years to finally remember you."

"But we don't have that much time."

"I know. The mind is complex. He may never remember."

There's a moment of silence.

"When I first saw you in the horse stable, I wanted so badly to just wrap my arms around you and never let go." Gibbs said. "Seeing you for the first time in 15 years… More then anything… I wanted you to remember me."

"Well, after the accident, it may have taken me 11 years to finally remember you. But I'm glad I did. Cuz in those 11 years of not remembering you…" Jamie gently places her left hand onto her father's left shoulder. "It always felt like something was missing."

Gibbs raises his left hand upward and places his hand onto Jamie's hand.

"How did you finally remember me?" Gibbs asked.

"It all came back to me within a three day period. It was like an overwhelming flood of memories." Jamie stated as she takes her hand away in order to continue cleaning the shrapnel wound. "It all started after the funeral of a family friend."

"How did a funeral help your memory?"

"It wasn't necessarily the funeral itself. As I walked to where a friend of my family… I mean… A friend of my adopted family." Jamie leans forward and gently wraps her arms around her father. "You're my real family." She then leans back and begins putting a clean dressing on the wound. "He was being buried and we had to walk through the cemetery. I walked passed an area where I really took a good look at the graves. To get to and from the car, I had to walk passed the same graves, two times. Anyway, the first time I passed a certain grave, I felt a lil weird. I couldn't explain it at the time. But the second time I passed the grave, something just happened. I just remembered certain things."

"It was a grave that made you remember?"

"The grave was Mom's. Her grave triggered the memories."

"If you walked passed your mother's grave, then why did you think I abandoned you? Cuz your grave was right next to hers."

"It was?! I never saw it."

"Why not?"

"Cuz some guy wearing black pants and a grey jacket was blocking my view of the grave next to Mom's. His head was down, so all I could see was his back."

Gibbs starts laughing.

"What?! What's so funny?!" Jamie exclaimed as she's clueless.

"Now that's ironic." Gibbs said.

"Are you gonna tell me what you find to be so funny?"

"Every time I went to visit your grave, I would wear black pants and a grey jacket."

"Oh my God! That was you!"

As Gibbs keeps laughing, Jamie begins to get teary eyed.

"Dad, it's not funny." Jamie whimpered.

Gibbs stops and turns to face his daughter.

"I spent four years thinking you abandoned me and I hated you for it. I hated you so much." Jamie whimpered. "And when I saw you the horse stable, I pretended to not know you cuz I didn't want you to hurt me again. But I found myself not hating you and I hated myself for it."

"Sweetie, I'm sorry." Gibbs places his hands onto Jamie's face in order to gently tilt her head upward so he can look her in the eyes.

"Apologizing is a sign of weakness." Jamie joked.

Gibbs gently wipes a tear from Jamie's eye.

"When you love someone, or when an apology is absolutely necessary, then apologizing isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of being human." Gibbs paused as he looks into his daughter's eyes. "The important thing is… You're here now."

"When I saw you at the cemetery that time, I noticed you were holding a bullet." Jamie said.

"If you're asking… Then yes. I missed you so much that every time I went to visit your grave, I planned on putting a bullet through my head. But I always found some reason not to do it." Gibbs stands up. "Come with me."

Gibbs and Jamie walk out of the bathroom and into Gibbs' bedroom. Jamie sits on the bed as Gibbs goes to the closet. He opens the closet and kneels down. He moves a box to the side and lifts a loose board from the closet floor. He takes out a small wooden box from beneath the floor board. Gibbs now walks over to Jamie and sits on the bed next to her. He hands her the small wooden box.

"What's this?" Jamie asked.

"Open it." Gibbs replied.

Jamie opens the wooden box to the reveal the bullet inside.

"I don't need it anymore." Gibbs stated.

Jamie smiles at her father. Gibbs and Jamie sit on the bed talking a little while longer before going downstairs to work on their boat.


	7. Chapter 7

**Tuesday**

**Chapter 7**

Tony and Chioke arrive at the NCIS building. Tony is practically half asleep while Chioke is wide awake. They go to the elevator. Tony first drops Chioke off with Jamie, in the Forensics Lab. He then takes the elevator to go upstairs. He steps off the elevator and walks to the work area. He stops between his desk and Ziva's. Ziva looks up at him as he yawns and he tries hard to keep his eyes open. Tony remains between the two desks and begins doing some exercises to help wake himself up.

"Late night?" Ziva asked.

"Introducing Chioke to movies was definitely a bad idea." Tony stated.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" McGee asked.

"In total… Roughly 15 minutes in doze off time the entire night." Tony said. "I seriously have no idea how he can even function right now."

"What movies did you two watch?" McGee asked another question.

"Toy Story, Over the Hedge, Shrek, Ice Age, The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Curious George."

"Which movie did he like the best?" Ziva asked.

"His favorite was, The Lion King. He also really liked Curious George too." Tony answered. "He seems to really like lions and monkeys."

From his desk, McGee notices Gibbs step off the elevator.

"So Tony, you never told us how it feels to have Gibbs as your father-in-law." McGee stated.

"It's weird. When I see him, I don't know whether to call him; Boss, Gibbs or Dad." Tony said. "But actually…" He paused for a couple seconds as he thinks about it. "I honestly don't know how it feels cuz I haven't really given it much thought."

As Gibbs walks by, he smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"But apparently, it hurts." Tony said as he rubs his head.

"That should help wake you up DiNozzo." Gibbs stated.

McGee and Ziva laugh.

"We don't have time for giggles people! We have a missing person to find! We need something to work with before he dies!" Gibbs exclaimed in a strong voice. "Do any of you have anything significant that pertains to this case?!"

Ziva and McGee immediately look down at their computers and begin working. Gibbs places his coffee on the desk. He turns around and glares at Tony.

"Boss, I'm so tired, I can hardly even see right now."

Gibbs grabs his coffee and walks over to Tony. He places the coffee in Tony's hand.

"That'll wake you up."

Gibbs then walks away. Tony takes a sip of the coffee and almost gags.

"Holy crap!" Tony exclaimed. "How the hell does he drink this?!" He takes the lid off of the cup and puts his nose to it. He smells the coffee and his eyes tear up a bit. "I'm definitely awake now."

Tony walks to his desk and sits down.

After a couple minutes, Ducky enters into the work area.

"Do any of you know where Gibbs is?" Ducky asked.

"Whatever you do, don't tell him you're tired, cuz it's a major health risk." Tony stated.

"He was here a couple minutes ago." Ziva said. "What do you need him for?"

"I know you're looking into a Doctor Robert T. Williams…" Ducky begins to say. "He's a brilliant surgeon who kinda reminds me of a surgeon I met…"

"Ducky, please…" Ziva sighed to make him get to the point.

"I don't know him personally. But his brother is a medical examiner and may be able to give you some insight…"

"Ducky… We're trying to find the Lieutenant without Doctor Finger Swap knowing about it." Tony said.

"I know. But him and his brother had a falling out many years ago and haven't spoken to each other since. So maybe he can help." Ducky stated.

The team all look at each other.

"It's worth a shot." McGee said.

Meanwhile, down in the Forensics Lab, Abby and Jamie are sitting on the stools watching Chioke as he curiously looks around the Lab.

"Remember not to touch anything, Chioke." Jamie stated.

Chioke nods his head.

"Chioke, I heard your favorite movie was The Lion King and also Curious George." Abby said.

Chioke turns to face her and nods his head in excitement. He then gets down on the floor, on his hands and knees, and starts imitating a scene from the movie, The Lion King, for them. Abby and Jamie laugh as they find it to be so adorable. He then waves for them to join him. The two girls get off their stools and get onto the floor. The three of them are now on their hands and knees, moving around the lab.

Gibbs steps into the lab to see all three of them moving around the room, like lions. Abby and Jamie are roaring, as all of them are playfully swatting at each other. Abby notices Gibbs standing there with a shocked look on his face.

"Gibbs, come join us." Abby said.

Chioke stands up and walks over to Gibbs. He grabs Gibbs by the hand and pulls him into the room to where they're playing. Chioke gets back onto the floor and begins swatting playfully at Gibbs' leg. Abby and Jamie are roaring at Gibbs. Gibbs just stands there looking at them.

"Why not…" Gibbs shrugs his shoulders and gets on the floor.

Now, all four of them are on their hands and knees moving around the room, acting like lions. As Gibbs, Jamie and Abby act like lions and roaring at each other, Chioke changes to acting like a monkey.

After a minute, Tony, Ziva, McGee and Ducky enter into the lab. They stand by the entrance in shock at what they see. They all look at each other.

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle…" Tony begins to sing.

Gibbs immediately stands up and begins fixing his clothing and brushes off any possible dirt.

"…The lion sleeps tonight." Tony continued.

Ziva, McGee and Ducky shrug their shoulders and join Tony in singing.

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight." The four of them sing.

Now, the four of them start laughing, as do Abby and Jamie as they get back onto their stools. Gibbs stands there in embarrassment. And Chioke has the biggest smile on his face.

"Why aren't you three upstairs working?" Gibbs asked.

"And miss the fun of the jungle…" Tony grins. "I think not."

Chioke runs over to Tony and Tony lifts him into his arms. Chioke wraps his arms around Tony's neck and lies his head on Tony's shoulder. Ducky approaches Gibbs.

"I think I may know someone who can possibly help…" Ducky begins to say.

"Ducky, I don't need a shrink." Gibbs stated.

"No, I meant in regards to Doctor Robert T. Williams." Ducky said. "His younger brother is a medical examiner who I know. He hasn't spoken to Robert in quite a few years cuz something triggered a falling out between them…" Ducky continued talking.

As Ducky kept talking, something just hit Gibbs. He remembers what the man, who found Brian Phillips, said about the night when he found him. Gibbs remembers the late-night conversation with Jamie about what triggered her memory. Then it all made sense to him about how he can get Brian Phillips to remember.

"Triggered memories!" Gibbs exclaimed. "Abs, where's the dog tags?!"

"Over there." Abby points to a table with the evidence on it.

Everyone is confused as Gibbs runs to the table, looking for the dog tags. Gibbs grabs the dog tags and heads for the door.

"Gibbs, should we bring in Robert's brother?!" Tony shouted. He gets no answer. "Gibbs…?"

"What was that all about?" McGee asked.

"With Gibbs, you never really know." Tony said.

There's a moment of silence.

"Ducky, are you busy?" Ziva asked.

"I have no residents downstairs, if that's what you mean." Ducky replied.

"How would you like go pick-up Robert's brother with me?"

"I'd be delighted, my dear."

Ziva and Ducky walk out in order to leave. Tony realizes Chioke is asleep in his arms. McGee, with his crutch, begins to hobble out of the lab to go back upstairs.

"McGee, wait up." Tony said.

McGee stops and waits for Tony. Tony walks over to the refrigerator where Abby's futon was already setup. Tony carefully places Chioke on the futon. Then he walks over to Jamie. He gives her a quick kiss then walks out. Tony and McGee go back upstairs.

Abby and Jamie are now sitting on their stools. The two of them are looking over at Chioke while he's sleeping, all curled up on the futon.

"I feel sorry for Tony about getting no sleep." Abby said.

"I can't believe they stayed up all night watching movies." Jamie said.

"He looks so peaceful over there."

"Yeah, he does."

"What happened yesterday while he was sleeping, I've never seen anything like that before. The poor kid was having a nightmare."

"I think the nightmare was about what his family."

"What exactly happened to his family?"

"All we know, from what Arthur said, is that his family was caught in a cross-fire between rival Warlords. Chioke was shot and left to die. We really don't know much about it cuz the gun-shot took his voice away." Jamie stated. "He knows English, but he doesn't know how to write. At this moment, it's more of a guessing game as to what he's trying to tell us. But we're gonna change that. He's now starting to learn sign language, as you already know, and I need to start doing some research on schools for him." She added to the conversation. "So in time, if he chooses to tell us about what happened to his family, he'll be able to do so. And we'll be here to help him get through it."

"He's lucky to have you and Tony."

There's a moment of silence as Abby and Jamie just watch Chioke sleeping.

"Gibbs makes a great lion. Too bad it isn't mating season." Abby said with a sexy growl.

Jamie just shakes her head.

Everybody goes off doing their own thing to work on the case, while Gibbs goes to the hospital with the dog tags.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Gibbs arrives at the hospital. He immediately runs to the room where Brian Phillips is. Brian is lying on the bed watching TV. Gibbs enters the room.

"We need to talk." Gibbs stated.

"How did I know you'd come by today. I definitely admire the fact that you don't give up Agent Gibbs." Brian said. "I'm trying to remember what happened, but nothing is…"

"When I spoke with the man who found you…" Gibbs interrupted. "You were unresponsive…"

"You already told me all of this Agent Gibbs."

"You didn't ask him for help, for yourself. You asked for help, for your friend. It wasn't looking at your hands, at the fingers that aren't yours, that made you ask for help. It was looking at the dog tags." Gibbs grabs Brian's hand. He places the dog tags for Lieutenant Edward Collins in Brian's hand. "Your friend needs help and you know it. Whatever happened in the last seven years was very traumatic, I get that. But the memories are just buried and all that's needed is for something to trigger them to resurface."

Brian opens his hand and looks at the dog tags.

"For the sake of your friend… Try to remember." Gibbs said.

With Brian's free hand, he also grabs his friend's photograph from the table. He now looks at the photograph and the dog tags at the same time. He takes a deep breath.

"Your sister told me how you two have been friends since kindergarten. You two did everything together." Gibbs stated. "Remember all the good times the two of you had."

A smile comes to Brian's face as he remembers the fun he and Edward have had throughout their entire friendship. He stares at the dog tags and suddenly, the heart monitor registers a rapid heartbeat. He also begins breathing heavily and shaking as a rush of memories, about the last seven years, begins to flood his mind.

"Where were you held?" Gibbs asked. "Where can I find your friend?"

"Edward…" Brian cried as tears start falling from his eyes. "How could I forget? I'm sorry my friend."

"What do you remember?"

"I remember…" Brian tries to say but paused to take a deep breath.

"Take your time."

"I remember me and Edward being chained to the wall."

"Where?"

"It was…" Brian takes another deep breath. "It looked like an old metal bunker of some sort. There are no windows. I guess it was underground." He said. He tries to think of more information. "There's a large room where all of us are chained to the walls."

"What do you mean all of us?!"

"There are others."

"How many?"

"About 25 or so… Though I'm not exactly sure cuz I was out of it most of the time."

"You were drugged?"

"Yes." Brian lifts his head to look at Gibbs.

"Don't look at me, look at the dog tags."

Brian looks back at the dog tags.

"What else do you remember?" Gibbs asked.

"He gave us newspapers to read. I remember seeing an article about him in the paper. I tore it out and kept it. But the person chained next to me tried to steal it and it ripped." Brian said. "Most of the time, we lived in our own filth." He cried.

"What else?"

"The new people would scream and scream. Me and Edward stopped screaming for help a long time ago. We kept telling the newbie's there's no point in screaming cuz nobody would hear them. We didn't have any hope until my cuffs just somehow popped loose after a bashed em against the wall a couple times."

"Can you remember where all of this happened? Where the bunker is?"

"There was a small room with surgical equipment in it." Brian cried. "These scars on my body… When he wanted to have fun, he would drag any of us into that room and just cut us." His eyes are watery. "Other times he would perform surgeries on us. He removed one of my kidneys. He also removed my fingers and switched em with Edward's." He cried. "These fingers aren't mine!"

"Where is the bunker located?"

"That man ruined my life!"

"The road where you were found, how did you get onto that road?"

"I started out in the woods. The woods are thick. The entrance is covered, like camouflage, so it looks like the wilderness of the woods. I was able to get out cuz the lock doesn't work. I guess that's why we were always chained. Umm…" Brian tries hard to remember. "I walked straight until I came to a dirt road which I turned right unto. I walked on the dirt road for quite some time."

"Does that dirt road connect to the road you were found on?"

"Yes it does." Brian nods. "I turned right to get onto it. Then I kept walking."

"Do you remember anything significant about the dirt road?"

"It was straight. No curves."

Gibbs pulls out his cell-phone in order to make a phone-call.

"DiNozzo…" Tony said as he answers his phone.

"Brian was found on Old Ox Road, just north of street, Freeport Place… Further north, is there a dirt road on the left side of Old Ox Road?" Gibbs asked to confirm the location.

"Yes there is. Me and Ziva checked it out."

"Gather the team, rent some metal detectors and meet me at the beginning of the dirt road."

"Ziva shot the squirrel…" Tony realizes Gibbs already hung up on him. "…Close to that dirt road." He finished his sentence.

Gibbs turns back to Brian, who is now just sitting there crying.

"I need the dog tags, Brian." Gibbs said.

Gibbs takes hold of the dog tags and slowly pulls them out of Brian's hand. Brian's face falls into his hands. Gibbs runs out of the room in order to leave the hospital.

Almost an hour later, Gibbs meets up with Tony, Ziva, Ducky, Abby, Jamie and Michael Williams at the beginning of the dirt road. Local LEOs are also there to assist in the search. After parking his car, Gibbs walks over to the team.

"We possibly have 25 missing people out in these woods…" Gibbs points to the woods. "…Left to die in an underground bunker. At this point, they don't have much strength due to being malnourished and dehydrated. We need to find them fast." Gibbs hands out a bunch of maps to everybody. "To narrow down the search, I highlighted a perimeter. Search every inch of land inside the perimeter. The bunker entrance is camouflaged, so use the metal detectors." He said. "If you locate a large area of metal, you immediately call for assistance so we can find the entrance more quickly." He added. "Are we clear?"

"Yes Sir." All the local LEOs shouted.

Each of the local LEOS grabs a metal detector then goes to their squad cars in order to drive down the dirt road to get to a good starting location. As the local LEOs prepare, Gibbs walks over to his team.

"Who is this?" Gibbs asked.

"This is Michael Williams. He's…" Ducky begins to say.

"Why did you bring the suspect's brother?!"

"We were picking him up at the time Tony called us to come here." Ziva stated.

"You should've pulled over, let him out, then come here!"

"With all due respect Agent Gibbs…" Michael butted in. "I haven't spoken to my brother in years. I go to visit our mother in the nursing home every single weekend. Robert only goes to visit her two times a year. And she still thinks he's the perfect son and I'm the screw-up." He added. "Since childhood, I knew my brother would do something horrible, someday, but mother never believed me. It was only a matter of time before it happened. He was always a sick fucker!" He continued. "I'm a medical examiner. I only work with the dead. But if I can help keep a person from ending up on my table, then I'm sure as hell gonna do whatever I can to make sure that doesn't happen. Especially, if it's cuz of my sick-fuck brother."

"You can help." Gibbs said because he saw the sincerity and concern in his eyes. "Let's go."

Gibbs and the team, including Michael Williams, all get into their cars and make their way up the dirt road. They park the cars close to the good starting point. They all get out of the cars. They all grab metal detectors, their maps and pair-up into teams. There are two teams of two and one team of three. Each team heads out into the woods.

With the help of local LEOs, the search for the underground bunker is now operational. Gibbs and Tony, paired together, are walking off in a northern section inside the perimeter. Abby and Jamie, paired together, are walking off in a southern section inside the perimeter. Ziva, Ducky and Michael, paired together, are walking off into the middle section inside the perimeter.

Gibbs and Tony are thoroughly sweeping their area.

"I never properly thanked you for the wedding present." Tony stated. "I absolutely loved it."

"I know how much you love Puerto Rico, Tony." Gibbs stated. "So I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"I know you heard what I said earlier, but you didn't say anything about it." Tony said. "You know… When I see you, the whole… Not knowing whether to call you; Boss, Gibbs or Dad, thing."

"Boss or Gibbs is fine." Gibbs paused for a couple seconds. "While working."

"So when we're not working, I can call…"

"Don't push it DiNozzo." Gibbs continues walking.

"Wait…" Tony paused as he thinks to himself. "I'm confused."

"Of course you are DiNozzo."

"You never ruled out me calling you Dad. But then, when I ask you about when we're not working, you say, don't push it…"

"And that's what I meant."

"But that doesn't make sense and it still doesn't address what we're talking about."

"It's not what we're talking about… It's what you're talking about."

"You're messing with me, aren't you Dad."

Gibbs smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"Right… We're working." Tony grins.

"And I said, don't push it." Gibbs stated.

Gibbs smirks as he continues walking and Tony is just all confused.

"Maybe we can change the subject to you acting like a lion cuz that was rather interesting and quite disturbing at the same time." Tony said.

"I was merely showing them how a real lion acts. It was for educational purposes." Gibbs stated.

"Rule #7; Always be specific when you lie… Isn't gonna help you on this one, Gibbs."

"Maybe the new rule, rule #51 will."

"What's the new rule?"

"Rule #51; If an employee won't drop a subject, his testicles are subject to rule #9."

"Rule #9 is; Never go anywhere without a knife." Tony sees the expression on Gibbs' face. "Oh…" He realized what Gibbs was getting at. "Consider it dropped."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle area of the perimeter where Ziva, Ducky and Michael are searching, Ziva's metal detector begins beeping wildly. Ziva gets on the radio.

"I found it!" Ziva exclaimed. "I repeat… I found it! Need immediate assistance in finding the entrance."

Gibbs, Tony, Abby, Jamie and all local LEOs, head in Ziva's direction to assist in finding the underground bunker entrance.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The NCIS team, local LEOs and Michael Williams are all in the vicinity where Ziva found where the underground bunker is located. Everybody is brushing away leaves, rocks, sticks and dirt in efforts to find the bunker entrance.

As Abby swings her hand to brush some stuff away, her hand hits a metal handle.

"Ow!" Abby shouted as she pulls her arm back.

Abby then kicks whatever caused her pain. She then begins rubbing her hand.

"I found the entrance!" Abby exclaimed.

Gibbs and the others quickly run over and begin looking around the area. After a minute, the bunker entrance is exposed.

"That's odd, there's no handle." Ducky stated. "How do you open this thing?"

Gibbs finds the broken bunker entrance handle. He holds it up. He then looks at Abby who just grins while trying to pretend she's innocent.

"Oopsy." Abby said. "I guess I kicked it too hard."

"DiNozzo!" Gibbs tries to get Tony's attention.

"Yeah Boss?"

"Go to the car and get the crowbar from the trunk."

"On it." Tony runs off.

"And hurry!"

As Tony runs to the car, the others try to figure out is there's another way to open the bunker entrance. They have no luck in figuring out an alternative and have to wait until Tony returns with the crowbar.

Gibbs sees Abby is rubbing her hand in pain. He stands up, walks over to her and gently takes her hand into his. Gibbs begins gently rubbing Abby's hand to help it feel better.

After some time, Tony finally arrives and hands the crowbar to Gibbs. Gibbs immediately begins to pry open the bunker entrance. With the entrance pried open as far as Gibbs could, a bunch of people grab the door and push it up, to fully open it.

Gibbs draws his gun, turns his flashlight on and enters into the underground bunker. The rest of the team does the same. The bunker is very dark and dirty. Gibbs shines the flashlight on the ceiling and sees there are light-bulbs.

"There must be a generator around here." Gibbs stated.

"I'll find it." Ziva said.

Ziva and two local LEOs walk off into a side room. The rest of the team and local LEOs continue walking down the corridor. At the end of the corridor, there's a huge door. The lights finally come on. Gibbs then opens the door. They enter into the large room.

Inside the large room, it's very dirty and reeks of urine, feces and of death. In total, there are 27 captives, 14 dead and 13 still alive. A couple of the captives who are still alive begin to scream in fear as they have no idea what's going on and who the people are that just entered into the room.

"Help these people." Gibbs stated.

Everybody begins going around the room in order to help the survivors chained to the walls. As the survivors are being helped, Abby goes outside in order to call 911 for immediate medical assistance. While inside the large room, Gibbs notices an empty set of chains next to a man chained to the wall. He walks over to the man.

"Lieutenant Edward Collins?" Gibbs asked in order to confirm the man's identity.

"Where's Brian?! Where's my friend?!" Lieutenant Edward Collins immediately asked in concern for his friend. "I told him to take my dog tags and bring them to NCIS."

"I'm Special Agent Jethro Gibbs, with NCIS. You're safe now." Gibbs stated as he begins trying to pick the lock of the chains. "Brian is fine. He's in the hospital doing well."

"I knew Brian wouldn't let me down." The eyes of Lieutenant Edward Collins become watery as he tries not to cry. "I knew he wouldn't leave me here to die."

Gibbs notices Lieutenant Edward Collins is trying hard to not cry.

"You've been missing for seven years. Brian told me what a traumatic experience it was. I can't even begin to imagine what you went thru. You have the right to cry." Gibbs stated. "I won't think any less of you."

With that, Lieutenant Edward Collins started bawling in relief that he'll now be able to go home.

After a while, ambulances arrive and Abby guides the EMT's to the underground bunker. The survivors are given immediate medical attention. With the survivors being helped, the NCIS team begins processing the crime-scene.

An hour later, all of the survivors are at the hospital being treated and doing well. More then two hours after finding the bunker, the NCIS team leaves the crime-scene. Gibbs goes to the hospital to speak with the survivors, while the rest of them all go back to the NCIS building. Ducky is down in Autopsy with the dead bodies. Abby and Jamie are in the Forensics Lab processing what was found inside the bunker. Chioke is once again sleeping on the futon in the lab. Tony, Ziva, McGee are up in the work area.

After a couple hours of being back at the NCIS building, Tony peeks over his computer to look at Ziva.

"Tony, is there some reason you keep looking at me?" Ziva asked.

"Yes." Tony grins.

"If you're undressing me with your eyes..."

"Eww… Why would I undress a man with my eyes?"

"Why would you kiss a transvestite?" **(Author's Note: In writing this, I wasn't sure if this is something that Tony already knows that Ziva is aware of.)**

Tony immediately looks toward McGee and throws a crumpled up piece of paper at his head.

"McGee!" Tony exclaimed.

"It slipped out a long time ago." McGee said.

"If you weren't cripple, I'd kick your ass, Gimpy."

Tony then looks back to Ziva.

"So you wanna try again?" Ziva asked.

"You know Ziva…" Tony stands up, grabs something from behind his desk, puts it behind his back and begins walking over to Ziva's desk. "I know you're a kick-butt assassin chick. You've probably killed quite a few people in your days. But…"

"What's that behind your back?"

"Can I finish?"

"Oh please… Continue."

"I'm sure you've had some really hard targets to assassinate. But nothing can ever come close to the skill it takes to assassinate…" Tony now exposes the thing from behind his back and puts it on Ziva's desk. "…A furry little animal." Tony grins as he finishes the sentence. "The squirrel you assassinated yesterday… I had it stuffed for you."

Tony then turns around in order to walk back to his desk. Ziva throws the stuffed squirrel at Tony. The stuffed squirrel hits Tony in the back as he's walking away. As Tony turns around to pick it up, he notices Gibbs and Jamie step off the elevator. He then runs to his desk, forgetting the stuffed squirrel. Gibbs and Jamie walk into the work area. Gibbs walks to his desk as Jamie goes over to Tony and sits on his desk. Tony wraps his arms around Jamie.

"Why is there a stuffed squirrel lying on the floor?" Gibbs asked as he stepped over it.

"It belongs to Ziva." Tony stated.

"No it doesn't! I don't want that thing!" Ziva exclaimed.

Gibbs walks over to the stuffed squirrel. He picks it up and walks over to Ziva's desk. He then places it onto her desk.

"You killed it. You keep it." Gibbs said.

Tony laughs.

"You can't be serious." Ziva protested.

"Do I not look serious?" Gibbs asked. He then turns to face Tony. "As for you… Hands off my daughter."

Tony takes his arms off from around Jamie.

"Boss, we've been discussing what happened in the lab earlier today with the whole acting like a lion thing. Tony said you explained it to him and if we wanted to know, to just ask you about it." McGee said.

"Oh, did he now?" Gibbs now glares over at Tony who just looks down at the computer and pretends to work. He now looks back to McGee. "What I explained to him was rule #51."

"What's Rule #51?"

"Rule #51; If an employee won't drop a subject, his testicles are subject to rule #9. And rule #9, which I hope you remember, is; Never go anywhere without a knife." Gibbs stated. "You still wanna know?"

"Oh… Umm… Forget it."

Gibbs now looks away from McGee.

"I can safely say that rule doesn't apply to me." Ziva stated. "So I wanna know."

"Rule #52 is basically the same as rule #51, but applied for a woman." Gibbs said.

"I don't plan on having children." Ziva said. "So?"

Jamie walks over to Ziva's desk.

"My Dad let loose at work one time and got busted. Let's leave it at that." Jamie said.

Ziva hands Jamie the wedding album with the wedding photos inside. Jamie opens the photo album.

"Thank you, thank you!" Jamie exclaimed. "I love it!"

Jamie gives Ziva a quick hug. She then looks to her father.

"You're on your own, Dad." Jamie said.

Jamie now walks over to Tony to show him the wedding album. Ziva now grins at Gibbs.

"Should I tell Tony what happened when you came to visit me in the hospital when I was blown-up?" Gibbs asked.

Tony's attention is immediately drawn and he looks over his computer in interest.

"What'd she do?" Tony curiously asked.

"Nothing." Ziva said as she really doesn't want Tony knowing she cried in the hospital that day.

"So what happened?" Tony asked again.

"Tony…" Ziva tries to get his attention as she stands. "Rule #51."

"Ha!" Tony exclaimed. "Like that would work on me!"

"Why wouldn't it?" Both Gibbs and Jamie ask at the same time.

Tony looks at them, especially Jamie.

"You wouldn't really allow her to use rule #51 on me, would you?" Tony asked.

"Yes, I would." Gibbs said.

"I'm sure you can live without those." Jamie said.

"Ha!" Ziva exclaimed.

Gibbs finally sips his coffee as he knows he finally won in getting the team to be quiet about the acting like lion in the Forensics Lab.

"Boss, aren't we gonna bring Doctor Robert T. Williams in?" McGee asked.

"No." Gibbs answered.

"Why not?" Tony asked.

"Cuz we're gonna do it tomorrow." Gibbs responded. "And right now, I have somewhere to go."

Gibbs then walks away and the team is left wondering why tomorrow.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Gibbs arrives in West Springfield, Virginia and parks the car in front of Emily's house. He walks to the front door and rings the doorbell. Emily Saunders opens the door. Emily smiles as she's glad Gibbs kept his promise.

"Are you ready to go?" Gibbs asked.

"I wasn't sure if you were serious about coming or not." Emily said. "I never really had someone I can truly rely on before. Besides my sister, of course."

"Like I said, I'm just a phone-call away."

"It's nice to have someone I can rely on."

Emily steps out of the house and closes the door. She locks the door and the two of them walk to Gibbs' car. The two of them are now off to go to where they need to be.

After driving a while, Gibbs enters into a parking lot. He and Emily get out of the car and walk toward a building. They step inside the building and walk to the room they're supposed to go to. Emily stops outside the door and begins taking a couple deep breaths.

"If you think it's too soon to do this, then we can always leave and try another day." Gibbs stated.

"I just need a minute to collect myself." Emily said.

"Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere."

A couple minutes go by before Gibbs and Emily enter into the room. The meeting is a support group for abused teenagers. Gibbs is there with Emily for moral support. They both sit down a couple seconds before the meeting begins.

"It's good to see you all. I hope you all had a nice weekend." James, the group leader said. "As I said last week, we'll have a newcomer. And she's here with us tonight." He said. "Her name is Emily."

"Hey Emily." A couple of the group members greet her.

"Hello Emily." Other group members said to greet her.

"Yo Emily. Sup girl." One boy said.

"Don't mind Kevin. That's just how he greets everybody." Catherine stated, the girl sitting next to Emily. "It's nice to meet you Emily. I'm Catherine, but everybody calls me Cat."

Emily shakes Catherine's hand. Emily then looks over at Kevin. Kevin grins and waves to her.

"I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm not the only adult in the room today. We have a guest and his name is Jethro Gibbs. He also has a story to share." James stated. "With the first few times coming here, it may be a little intimating…"

"You a cop, ain't you Mr. Gibbs?" Kevin asked. "Ya look like a cop."

"Kevin..." The group leader tries to get his attention.

"Sorry. Ya know how I get wit cops."

"You're right, in a way." Gibbs said. "I'm a navy cop. I work for NCIS."

"What da fuck is NCIS?"

"Kevin, remember what we talked about." James said.

"My bad..." Kevin said. "I meant to say… What is NCIS?"

"It stands for Naval Criminal Investigate Service." Gibbs said.

"Cool." Kevin said. "I can spot a cop from a mile away. It's a gift."

"When Kevin first came here, his behavior was really bad." Catherine said to Emily. She then looks at Kevin. "But your behavior has gotten much better since then. And we're all happy with the progress you've made."

"Thanks Cat." Kevin said. "It means a lot comin from you." He then makes a kiss face at her.

Catherine rolls eyes.

"We all know each other's stories." James said. "But for our newcomer, let's start off by sharing our stories with her." He said. "Kevin… Since you're so eager to talk… How about you start things off for us."

Kevin stands.

"Aight, this is how it went down… I was seven when it started. My mother, she…" Kevin continues talking and everybody listens.

After Kevin finished and sat down, one by one, the other people in the group each took a turn and told their stories. With one last person telling her story, Emily becomes anxious as her turn is coming soon. She puts her hand in Gibbs' hand as her heartbeat increases. The person telling their story finally finishes and sits down. While still holding Gibbs' hand, Emily stands up.

"I know I don't have to take a turn if I don't want to. But I want to." Emily said. She takes a deep breath. "My father abused me both emotionally and physically. I was the unwanted child, so he immediately hated me. He made sure that I knew he hated me." She paused as she wipes a tear from her eye. "Throughout my entire life he was so cruel to me. He would beat me every chance he got. It's because of him that I have a really hard time trusting people, so I hardly have any friends. All I ever wanted was for him to stop hurting me. I just wanted him to love me like he loved my older sister Ashley…" Emily continues.

After mentioning Ashley, Catherine, who is listening to Emily's story, finally realizes something.

"The beatings got worse as time went by." Emily continued her story. "Eventually, my sister started being abused to. Then, for the first time, I had someone to share my pain with. My sister loved me. She loved me so much that she wanted to get me away from my father. But that's when…"

Catherine hands Emily a tissue. Emily uses the tissue to wipe her eyes.

"That's when my father found out about her plan to take me away." Emily continued. "One night, I heard some noise in the basement. I was on the stairs when I saw it." She said. "My father was beating my sister. I wanted to help her, but I just froze in fear. For a minute I watched. Then he strangled her. My sister wasn't moving. I knew he killed her. And I did nothing. I just ran upstairs to my room." Emily cried. "The next night, he brought me out to the woods where he left my sister's body. He forced me to help him bury my sister. Then he beat me with the shovel. I'm glad he's now in prison where he belongs. But I miss my sister so much." She sits down and begins bawling.

"Emily…" Kevin tries to get her attention.

Emily looks over at him.

"When I first came here, I couldn't finish my story…" Kevin begins to say.

"It's true, he couldn't." Catherine said.

"That took a lot of guts to stand-up n do what you just did." Kevin stated. "Bravo girl, bravo." He begins clapping.

The other group members also clap for Emily's bravery. After a minute, the room calms down.

"Mr. Gibbs dude, James mentioned that you got a story to tell." Kevin stated.

"I do." Gibbs stands. "My story isn't as recent as any of yours. My story begins a long time ago, back in the stone-age." Gibbs paused as the group members laughed. "My father had a major drinking problem…" Gibbs continues his story as everyone else listens.

After almost two hours, the meeting finally ends. Gibbs stands, but before Emily could stand, Catherine grabs her attention.

"As you were telling your story, I realized who you are." Catherine stated. "We go to the same school. I used to have class with your sister Ashley."

"I didn't even realize." Emily said.

"It's a big school, so yeah. Anyway, I won three free movie tickets for this weekend. I invited Kevin, but I'm still looking for another person, so if you're interested, you can come with us."

Emily looks to Gibbs who just nods. She looks back to Catherine.

"Ok, I'll go." Emily said.

"Great. It'll be fun." Catherine said.

Catherine and Emily stand up. Catherine begins to walk away. She then turns to face Emily and Gibbs.

"See you at school, Emily." Catherine waves.

"Bye Cat." Emily waves back.

As Catherine walks away, Emily looks at Gibbs and smiles. Gibbs then takes Emily for a quick bite to eat before dropping her off at home. After dropping Emily off at home, Gibbs goes back to his own home.

Back in his own home, Gibbs and Jamie are in the living room talking.

"I'm glad you're keeping in touch with Emily cuz it's good for her to have someone who understand what she's been thru." Jamie stated.

"I couldn't abandon her. Especially since I know how she feels to be completely alone in a matter such as this." Gibbs said. "So for her, it's a good thing she has someone she can rely on."

Jamie leans toward her father and places her arm around him and her head on his chest. Gibbs wraps his arm around Jamie.

"And that's a reason I love you, Dad." Jamie said.

There's a moment of silence.

"Earlier today when we were in the lab acting like lions…" Jamie begins to say.

"I'm never gonna stop hearing about this." Gibbs said.

"It reminded me of our little game, Bad Doggy."

"We had some good times with that game."

"Bad Doggy was my favorite game."

Jamie backs away from her father. Gibbs reads the expression on her face.

"Oh no… What happened earlier today was embarrassing enough." Gibbs stated.

"It's just you and me. Nobody else is here. No one will see us." Jamie said.

"Nah, I just…" Gibbs is shaking his head. He notices Jamie giving her the sad puppy dog eyes. "Oh come on."

"Please." Jamie said in a whimpering voice.

"I've never been able to resist your sad puppy dog eyes cuz you're just so good at it."

"Just go easy on me. Don't tackle me like you used to cuz I'm pregnant, remember."

"I got my Nigeria wounds, so I don't wanna get too rough."

Jamie leans forward to the coffee table. She grabs a section of newspaper and rolls it up. After rolling it up, she smacks her father's leg with it.

"Bad Doggy!" Jamie exclaimed.

Gibbs begins to growl at Jamie. She then smacks him with the rolled up newspaper again.

"Bad Doggy!"

Gibbs growls and moves toward her. Jamie gets up and runs behind the coffee table. Gibbs jumps off the couch and continues growling at her. While on his hands and knees, Gibbs advances toward Jamie as she moves away. She then tries to smack him with the newspaper. Gibbs now makes a full, forward advance toward Jamie. She runs and Gibbs, while on his hands and knees growling and barking at her, chases her around the room.


	11. Chapter 11

**Wednesday**

**Chapter 11**

Wednesday afternoon, the NCIS team is at a building where a medical convention is being held. In the lecture hall of the building, a speaker, who is presenting the Ethics Award, is up on stage speaking. The team is all position and awaiting Gibbs' order to make the move in arresting Doctor Robert T. Williams who will be. Gibbs is in the front row in disguise as a doctor. Tony and Ziva are backstage awaiting Gibbs' order to move. A couple other NCIS agents are waiting around on the outside of all exits to the lecture hall. There are two exits near the stage and two exits at the back of the lecture hall. As the speaker sounds like he's about to introduce who will be receiving the Ethics Award this year, Gibbs reaches into his coat in order to grab the hand-held microphone. He conceals it in his hand and brings it up to his mouth and holds it there. The speaker finally announces Doctor Robert T. Williams as the Ethics Award recipient.

"All units stand-by." Gibbs stated softly into the mic.

Doctor Robert T. Williams steps onto the stage and approaches the podium. He shakes the hand of the speaker as he accepts the award. He then positions himself behind the podium in order to give a speech.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am truly humbled and honored to be chosen to receive this award for excellence in ethical patient care. As young doctors just graduating from medical school, each of us took the Hippocratic Oath to first do no harm…" Doctor Robert T. Williams begins his speech.

"Let them in." Gibbs said softly into the hand-held mic.

The NCIS agents, on the outside of the four exits, finally open the door to let people in. The people they let into the lecture hall are six of the surviving captives. The rest of the surviving captives are in the hospital, but the six at the lecture hall are the only ones who were strong enough to be released. Lieutenant Edward Collins is standing at the exit to the right of the stage. Brian Phillips is standing at the exit to the left of the stage. And four other surviving captives are standing at the back exists; two at each of the back exists of the lecture hall.

"In the fast-paced and competitive field of surgery, it can be easy to focus too much on discovering new breakthroughs, and to forget about the promises we made when we took the Oath…" Doctor Robert T. Williams continues the speech as he looks around the room. "I take great pride in my ability to balance both sides; maintaining the highest moral and ethical standards…" He then notices the captive on the left side of the stage. "…While also…" He starts becoming nervous after looking away just to see the captive on the right side of the stage. He then sees the four captives walking down the aisles to the stage, from the back of the lecture hall. "Excuse me. I'm suddenly not feeling well."

Doctor Robert T. Williams faces the back and walks in order to get to the only means of escape, the exit behind the stage. Gibbs stands up and takes his disguise off and walks to the stage. Tony comes out from behind the stage and points his gun at Doctor Robert T. Williams.

"Where you going doc?" Tony asked. "You got some explaining to do."

The doctor tries going to the other side and Ziva is there pointing her gun at him.

"I guess he forgot to mention we're with NCIS. And you're under arrest." Ziva stated.

The doctor tries going forward, away from the back of the stage, but is stopped by Gibbs who is near the podium. The six captives walk to the stage. Everybody in the lecture hall is confused as to what is going on. Gibbs grabs the microphone off the podium.

"Doctor Robert T. Williams, you're under arrest for the unethical treatment of 27 people you abducted, tortured and performed unwanted surgeries on, and the murders of 14 of those people." Gibbs stated with the microphone in hand for the entire lecture hall to hear. "You just received an Ethics Award for excellence in patient care." He continued. "But I have six of your captives here on stage… And they have reasons why you shouldn't be given this award." Gibbs then hands the microphone to Lieutenant Edward Collins.

Gibbs puts his gun away and takes out handcuffs. He approaches the doctor and places the handcuffs on him. Lieutenant Edward Collins stands behind the podium, puts the microphone back into the holder and begins speaking to the doctors in the lecture hall, about what he was put through. Gibbs sits Doctor Robert T. Williams in a chair on the stage, forcing him to sit in front of his colleagues as the six surviving captives each take a turn in telling their story about what the doctor did to them.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

After working being over, Tony is in the parking lot, walking to his car. As Tony walks to his car, he sees his father waiting there for him.

"What do you want?" Tony asked as he approaches.

"I just wanted to talk." Mr. DiNozzo said.

"You may wanna talk, but I don't."

"I know that missing your wedding…"

"No you don't know, Dad!" Tony exclaimed. "You have no idea how it felt for me to not have my own father show-up at my wedding."

"So what you said on Monday about me being…"

"Of course you being at my wedding would've meant something me. Something more to me then just what my coworkers and boss meant. You're my father. How could your presence not?"

"I just…" Mr. DiNozzo sighed.

"I know our relationship has always been..." Tony paused. "I can't even think of the right word for it."

"Odd comes to mind."

"Odd works." Tony agreed. "There are times when I hate you so much. Then there are other times when I just wanna give you a hug. But ever since Mom died, you…"

"Pushed you away… I know."

"You took Mom's death so hard. And I tried to be there for you."

"I know."

"You've always been obsessed with the Civil War. But when my Mom died, your obsession increased."

"The Civil War was always my means of escaping everything, even when your mother was alive."

"You sure as hell tortured me with your means of escape." Tony said. "You wanna know the funny thing… Jamie loves to learn, so she would be intrigued by your Civil War stories." He laughed.

"There's nothing I can do or say to make up for missing your wedding. I've used your mother's death as an excuse for far too long." Mr. DiNozzo stated. "On Monday, when I came here and you yelled at me, which got me thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

"Until that day, I didn't realize how bad our relationship has become. So starting next week, I'll be going to a psychologist twice a week. I know I have to work thru some unresolved issues over your mother's death."

"That's good. It'll help."

"I just hope you'll find it in your heart to forgive your old man."

"I really wish you were at my wedding, Dad."

"I know, Son. A wedding is a once in a life-time thing." Mr. DiNozzo said. "Well, once in a life-time may be un understatement cuz there's such a high divorce rate. But I hope that never happens with you and Jamie."

"I know it won't."

"You and Jamie should come over for dinner Sunday night so I can finally meet her."

"What about your, every Sunday night Civil War meeting?

"I'll skip it. Besides, I can always go next weekend."

"You mean it?" Tony smiles as he's happy.

"Yeah. I'd love to have both of you over for dinner this weekend."

"Then we'll be there."

"Good. And I'll pick my best Civil War stories for her."

"I bet she'll love em." Tony laughed.

"You never stood up to me before, like you did on Monday. You definitely grew some balls." Mr. DiNozzo stated. "Jamie must be one hell of a woman."

"She is."

"Do you need to go anywhere right now?"

"I was just gonna go home. That's all."

"I have some time before heading out, so you wanna take a walk with me? I'd love to hear all about my daughter-in-law."

"Sure, Dad."

Tony and his father walk away from the car. They go for a walk down the street and Tony tells him all about his wife, Jamie.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Tony finally arrives at home, Jamie is fixing a late dinner while Chioke is trying to figure out how to turn the TV on so he can watch, The Lion King. As the door opens and Tony walks into the apartment, Chioke runs over to him. While running to Tony, he's holding the movie in his hands. When he gets to the door, Tony lifts Chioke into his arms. Chioke waves the movie in Tony's face.

"Let me guess, you wanna watch The Lion King?"

Chioke smiles and nods his head in excitement.

"We'll watch the movie after dinner."

With Chioke in his arms, Tony walks into the kitchen where Jamie is preparing food. Tony kisses Jamie on the lips.

"It's gonna take a while." Jamie said. "So you can give him a bath now, if you like."

"What do you think Kid?" Tony asked. "You wanna take a bath now?"

Chioke nods his head. Tony brings him into the bathroom. He turns the water on in order to fill the tub. Chioke watches as the water begins filling the tub. As the water begins filling the tub, Tony notices Chioke is becoming a little anxious.

Chioke's heart beats rapidly as in his mind; the water is turning red from blood. Chioke turns the water off then climbs into Tony's lap. Jamie runs into the bathroom.

"I just realized, you've never given him a bath before." Jamie stated.

"He's shivering." Tony said.

"He did the same thing with me the first time. He's obviously afraid of water." Jamie said. "Let the water out and keep the drain open so water doesn't accumulate. Sit him in the tub and use the showerhead. The detachable showerhead should make it easier."

"I wonder why he's afraid of water."

"In time, he'll let us know."

Jamie walks out of the bathroom in order to finish making dinner. Tony holds Chioke in his arms until the water is drained from the tub. Chioke takes his clothes off. He finally steps into the tub and sits down as Tony grabs the showerhead. With the drain kept open, Tony turns the water on and begins given Chioke a bath.

After Chioke's bath and the three of them sitting down to eat dinner, they all sat down in the family room and watched the movie, The Lion King.

Almost two hours later, Tony is putting Chioke to bed. Chioke's bed is setup in the corner of the family room since it's a one bedroom apartment. After tucking him in, Tony goes to stand up, but Chioke grabs his arm.

"You want me to stay until you fall asleep?"

With somewhat of a sad facial expression, Chioke nods his head. Tony sits down next to the bed and stays there, holding Chioke's hand until he falls asleep.

Eventually, once Chioke is sleeping, Tony quietly leaves the family room. He enters into the bedroom and gets into bed. Tony and Jamie stay up talking for about an hour before going to sleep.

Later in the night, in the family room, Chioke is in his bed tossing and turning. Once again, he's having a nightmare. His facial expression is of pure anguish and heart beats rapidly as his breathing becomes heavier. He also begins trembling.

In Chioke's mind, he hears the sound of gunfire. Then his mother yells; 'Run Chioke! Run!' The dream continues a little longer, until he hears the sound of one last gun-shot, then a splash of water. While still sleeping, Chioke begins gasping for breath as blood and water fills his mouth, making it hard to breathe.

Finally, Chioke wakes up. He's breathing heavily as tears fall from his eyes. After wiping his tears away, he gets out of the bed. He walks to the bedroom where Tony and Jamie are sleeping. Chioke walks into the room. He walks over to the side of the bed where Tony is. Chioke stands next to the bed looking at Tony. He then places his hand on Tony's arm and shakes him. Tony wakes up and turns a small lamp on. Tony notices Chioke is crying.

"Did you have a bad dream?"

Chioke nods his head. Tony sits up, grabs a tissue and wipes Chioke's tears away. He then pats the bed to let Chioke know he can sleep in the bed with them. As Chioke climbs into bed, Jamie wakes up. She lifts her arm and Chioke crawls under her arm. Jamie wraps her arm around Chioke as Tony turns the light off. Tony then moves closer to Jamie and Chioke and also wraps his arm around him. In the comfort of Tony and Jamie's arms, Chioke closes his eyes and goes to sleep. Eventually, Tony and Jamie close their eyes and go to sleep to.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**The following chapter is strictly Chioke's nightmare; it explains what happened to his real family and what caused him to lose his voice**

Chioke and his family are in their home, in Nigeria, as they begin to hear gun-fire outside. The mother grabs hold of Chioke and sits in the corner. While the father walks to the window to see what's going on, the older brother and sister go to the corner with their mother. As the family is in the corner, the father sees a couple men running around outside, shooting at each other.

Suddenly, a body comes crashing through the front door. The entire family is startled. A man enters into the home using the front entrance and he runs to the back entrance. The father quickly grabs his gun. As the man reaches the back entrance, two men run in through the front entrance. The two men shoot the man in the back. One of the men then points his gun at the family cowering in the corner. The father points his gun at the man and pulls the trigger. As the first man falls to the floor, the second man, the man who didn't point at the gun at the family, now points his gun at the father and pulls the trigger. The father falls to the floor. The father is now dead.

The man then walks to the family. He pushes the children away and grabs the mother. The mother screams as the man drags her away from the corner. He pins her to the floor and tries ripping her clothes off as she fights to get him off of her. Chioke, who is only four years old, stays in the corner crying while his older brother and sister try to push the man off of their mother. After the man pushes the children away again, the older brother runs over to his father. He grabs his father's gun and runs back over to where the man is trying to rape his mother. The brother then points the gun to the side of the man's head and pulls the trigger. Some of the projected blood, from the man's head, splats onto Chioke.

The mother gets up, fixes her clothing and takes the gun away from her son. Another man enters into the home from the front entrance. The mother immediately shoots him. Chioke finally stands up as his mother approaches. He raises his arms and the mother lifts him into her arms. As the mother is getting Chioke, the brother and sister both grab guns from the dead men on the floor. The family goes to the back door. The mother pops her head out to take a quick look around. With the gun-fight occurring in front of their home, the mother is hoping they'll be able to escape the area through the back.

The family leaves the home through the back entrance. A couple seconds later, four men enter into the home through the front. The family runs down the street. The mother finally runs behind a building, into the alley, with Chioke still in her arms. The brother and sister follow. While behind the building, in alley, the mother puts Chioke down and tries to calm him down as he cries. After a minute, the family notices a couple men pass by in the street. The mother lifts Chioke back into her arms and they immediately begin running down the alley.

A man who passed by, stops and walks back over because he thought he saw something in the alley. He looks down the alley at the family running away. The man points his gun at the sister and pulls the trigger. The man laughs then continues running to catch up with his buddies. As the family keeps running, Chioke is the only one who can see that his sister is lying dead on the ground. Chioke begins crying again as he wraps his arms around his mother's neck a little more tightly. At the end of the alley, the family runs behind the side of the building. The mother notices her daughter isn't with them. She looks around the corner and sees her daughter lying motionless on the ground in the alley.

The family starts running again. They run further and further away from their home. Men with guns are basically everywhere they turn. The gun-fight is more spread out then the mother originally thought. After making a turn around another building, a man notices them. He begins to turn in order to aim his gun. The brother points his gun at the man and pulls the trigger. The man drops to the ground. Three seconds later, a bullet is fired and hits the brother in the back, killing him instantly. The mother turns around to see the person the man was trying to aim at, before he was shot by her son. She points her gun and fires at the man who just shot her son. The man falls to the ground. The mother checks to see if her son is still alive. She shakes him a couple times, but he remains motionless. With Chioke still in her arms, she continues running. Chioke watches his motionless brother lying on the ground as the mother, with him in her arms, keeps running.

As they continue on, they reach an area where there's a small creek. Near the creek is the rubble of collapsed building from a long time ago. Suddenly, a stray bullet hits the mother in the leg. She and Chioke fall to the ground. Chioke rolls off a bit after hitting the ground. With his leg hurting a little bit from the fall, he then tries crawling back to his mother, but she waves for him to stay where he is. The mother tries her best to stand up. She limps over to Chioke and picks him up. She brings him over to the rubble of the collapsed building and places him inside. The mother runs back over to where she fell, in order to get the gun she dropped. After picking up the gun, a couple men enter into the vicinity and begin shooting at each other. She quickly turns to face the rubble.

"Run Chioke! Run!" His mother screamed.

Chioke is frozen in fear while hiding in the rubble. From his place of cover, he watches as his mother is hit with a couple bullets.

"Mommy!" Chioke yelled.

Chioke's eyes tear up as his mother hits the ground and her blood begins to create a puddle around her dead body. From his place of cover, tears start rolling down his cheeks as he stares into the eyes of his dead mother.

A minute after the bullets stop firing in the area, Chioke looks out from rubble. When he sees nobody is in the area, he stands up and walks to his dead mother. Chioke sits next to his dead mother and shakes her. He cries as he places his hand on his mother's head.

"Mommy." Chioke cries for his mother as he strokes her head.

After a minute, Chioke notices a couple men running around, so he stands up and runs toward the creek.

While standing in the shallow creek, Chioke turns to look back at his mother for the last time. He then turns and sees a man pointing a gun at him. Chioke's heart begins beating rapidly as he's now frozen in fear. A tear rolls down his cheek. He then closes his eyes, hoping it's a dream or that the man will just go away. A shot is fired.

Chioke falls into the shallow creek and all he hears is the splash of the water. After falling into the creek, Chioke manages to roll his body so that he's lying on his back. The running water from the creek begins to devour him as it quickly turns red from his blood. Chioke turns his head slightly, in the direction the water is moving from. His right eye is submerged in the water. The tears coming from his left eye are quickly washed away as the water crashes over his nose. Chioke tries to yell, but begins choking on the water and his own blood at the same time. He thinks he's only choking on the water, when it's actually water and blood, but he's unaware since water and blood rushing into his mouth just feels the same. Chioke begins to panic as he's having a really hard time keeping the liquid out of his mouth due to the pain.

Chioke watches as the man who shot him starts walking toward him. The man walks into the shallow creek and just laughs as he stands there watching Chioke bleed, choke and try gasping for breathe. Chioke can't help but have an overwhelming feeling of fear and pain. He's scared as he begins to shake. The man finally walks away, leaving Chioke in the shallow creek. Chioke is left in the creek to die.

Now alone, Chioke just lies there in the shallow creek. As his blood continues mixing with the water, he lies there wishing his mother was alive to come get him. He tries yelling for his dead mother, hoping she'll miraculously save him. But all he can hear is the sound of water as it crashes against his face. Chioke cries as he doesn't know why he can't hear his own voice, but his tears are once again quickly washed away. He then begins choking even more on the water and his own blood. He tries to move in order to get out of the creek, but the pain quickly handicaps his movements. Chioke panics as he just lies there helplessly in the shallow creek, choking and bleeding. His strength quickly diminishes. With not having much strength, his eyes finally close.

After a minute, Chioke begins shivering as he hears the splashing of water due to foot-steps heading in his direction. He's scared that the man who shot him has returned. He tries to open his eyes, but doesn't have enough strength to do so. A couple seconds later, he feels someone (note: the person is Arthur) lifting him up into their arms. Chioke then completely passes out.

**End Chioke's nightmare**

**THE END**

This concludes the story "Finger Swap". Coming soon will be the next story in this series. But until then, I hope you enjoyed this story. By the way, the next story won't come until sometime in February because on January 19th, I get my surgery done and will need some time to recover. But if you look at my profile, you'll at least know the title of the next story.


End file.
